The Time Traveler
by illicit.azure
Summary: Years were just too long. Sakura finds herself in between what ultimately caused her first world’s demise and love she kept waiting years back. AU.
1. Chapter 1

Title: THE TIME TRAVELER

Author: illicit azure

Theme: Coming back from her long absence from her second world, Sakura finds herself questioning "do I still have something to go back to?"

Summary: Years were just too long. Sakura finds herself in between what ultimately caused her first world's demise and love she kept waiting years back.

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Author's notes: inspired by 'the return of the heir' and the 'time traveler's wife'

And before I hear any "What the hell is this story about?" this is indeed the sequel to HINTS (and yes HINTS isn't finish yet, in fact I have the next chapter)

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Chapter one – Return Konoha, Amegakure

She looks at the sky nostalgically; she had just gone back to her second universe – the one she had unknowingly been pulled in after destruction came in what she favorably called her first life.

She smiled at the peaceful surroundings, if she knew this place enough she should be about in the middle of Amegakure. It was so different from her first life's Amegakure, it would have been filled with towering lifeless and haunting buildings, unlike the bustling buildings it now had.

How long had she disappeared now?

Ten months? _A year?_ She could only speculate, her sense of time was murky.

It made her sigh, she did not even have a clue – it was best she had appeared somewhere far, far away from Konoha…

'How old is he now, ne?' A stray thought made her frown 'He would come to hate her, if not, he already did.' She disappeared so often it was alarming, and from her guesses this one had been the longest possibly.

She was always 'gone with the wind' as he often called told her. She couldn't do anything…she could only hope she didn't disappear all to sudden.

It was the consequence of altering time she guessed, not only did she take herself's place here, she had occasional disappearances…she kept switching back and forth between the two worlds.

She began to walk, appearing out of the trees and into the village. She would need to know just exactly how long she'd disappeared; after all she couldn't go back into Konoha without any knowledge whatsoever.

--

Later in the afternoon

She didn't expect _that_ at all, she was gone for more than three years! She mind unconsciously made a mental calculation _'he should be about twenty or something…' _She shook her head as soon as it reached her conscious mind.

Next thing she had to do was conjure up an alibi.

She needed to turn up with something excusable, maybe something from the other world. She quickly looks through her medic bag as she guided herself to a small inn. She had to think through the night, her conclusion was right, in exchange for lesser disappearances; her disappearances had grown in length.

She gave the inn lady a rather generous amount of money, before taking her keys and proceeding to her designated room.

"Time to research Madara's whereabouts."

--

Uchiha compound.

Itachi stared at his father.

If he was right, his father would go on, talk about mediocre things he could careless about.

The words almost fell deaf to his ears. _What would he talk about now?_

"What are you saying?! Itachi, you cannot delay this any further. _You are the Uchiha heir, and to assume position you need a wife._ What are your_ excuses_ this time? Duty_, age-?_ I believe none of those would work now."

"Father, I am merely pointing out the flaws your past arrangements held. I weigh my priorities-and a wife is the least need now." Itachi calmly answered. He had no desire to settle down with any of those women, he couldn't fully deny he was just making 'excuses' but he did not want to do something he knew he would come to regret later.

He watched his father, he was seething. "I know why, why don't you just tell me the truth. You're waiting for her, aren't you? When was the last time you saw her, four years ago?! As much as I find her favorable, as much as beneficial as her blood is, we cannot afford inconsistency, for all you know she might've settled down somewhere far away" His father snorted, "She cannot be tamed Itachi. If maybe you had listened to me all those years ago, maybe if you-"

"She has nothing to do with this conversation father; I suggest you leave the past out of this." Itachi turned to leave, his face impassive and cold. He had always hated how everyone reminded him of her, of his foolishness. He simply did not want to marry-that had been it, nothing more, nothing less. _Or was it?_ The back of his mind chanted - something he had come to ignore years ago.

"I hope you take your own advice Itachi." He heard his father mutter. He said nothing.

--

(Sakura)

It seemed her spies had a lot to tell. She needed to pay Jiraiya and Tsunade a little visit.

It seemed this world had been very busy.

She summoned her trusty little slug, Kaguya. The fastest out of her summons – the one that had the ability to move lighting speeds when underground, the only one that had fits of slim ball.

A past memory surfaced.

She frowned, she felt absolutely old and just wished time would stop repeating itself.

"Go find Jiraiya and Tsunade, tell them I've just come back. And oh, tell them I'll be paying them a visit soon." The tiny slug bobbed its head up and down before leaping down the window and sinking into the ground.

--

"Welcome back, Sakura" She gave the older woman a quick hug. She turned around to see Jiraiya approaching them.

She heard him speak.

"Tsk, tsk, Sakura…four years? You haven't aged at all." Sakura smiled at Jiraiya's voice.

"Well, for all I know It's just been a little less a year back there." Sakura replied.

"Now, I just didn't come here for a little chit-chat. I need Information, any thing interesting?"

"Ah Sakura, you've been gone for so long. Too long." Tsunade started.

--

"Uchiha Itachi, we have information on Madara's mercenary group, it seems our informant deems we need to act. She seems to have gathered some leads on their identities" Itachi narrowed his eyes on the scrawny, almost illegible handwriting, after all those years he could still clearly identify her handwriting. It was rushed, the pictures, cutouts from a recent bingo book. He scanned the contents, it contained information that was detailed.

He picked up a page.

_Sasori. _It read.

He moved his eyes, paragraph to paragraph.

Fighting abilities, techiniques, background information…etc.

Detailed information, so detailed that what his side could get. It was so like her, he couldn't but help think if he had fought the akatsuki before…a possibility, yes. But there had been no destroyed fields or equally shattered terrain he could account to her fighting style…in fact she had laid so low for years…the last he heard of her was from her summon wishing him a happy eighteenth birthday…and it was a year late…

She was really immersed in her trade…he closed his eyes briefly before turning to his troops, adorning his famed red eyes.

"We move then."

There was a chorus of "Hai, commander."

--

"Uchiha Sasuke, you along side with Shikamaru Nara and Namikaze Naruto will handling ANBU while I am away."

"Yeah!" The blonde pumped a fist in the air.

Sasuke shot Naruto a glare.

"I mean Yes commander!" from the corner of his eyes he could see the two bicker silently, he assumed the moment he disappeared the two would act like complete children, and the other…well he'd just sleep.

He was starting to rethink the idea. Leaving ANBU to his second in command, his tactician and to the hokage's next in line felt absurd – their titles were earned, but sometimes they just didn't act the way they should, but it was refreshing to say the least…as long as they didn't cut on their proficiency.

Uchiha Itachi turned to the first team.

He ordered them to dispatch, a diplomatic trip to Suna – and the other, the one he was currently with, to the outskirts of Amegakure.

He felt his heartbeat sped up, he had ordered the rest of his group to depart from him, he was going to head to one of the informant's hideouts – he was going to collect information, and he couldn't have the risk of it falling into the wrong hands.

--

(Sakura)

The kage of Amegakure – Pein, as he called himself. It was a great relief he had somehow become peaceful with a little reassuring and guidance from Jiraiya and Tsunade…she remembered just how shocked the hermit was when she told how the Pein from her world made Konoha into ruins…but she quickly added that at least he had some turn of heart.

It was a good thing he had not become part of akatsuki, Madara's mercenary group.

Madara, unlike in her first world, had no need of Tobi, and their base, she was going to discover just where the hell they had decided to step up – a minus her actions had made.

She also found a few things her actions made Hatake Kakashi – Konoha's hokage? Seriously? She snickered at the thought of her old teacher's tactics…he would probably someday be buried under a large pile he left untouched. Kakashi was someone who had remained the same as she could recall from her first world, as was Naruto's obsession with Ramen. And Sasuke, she compared worlds, he had become so Naruto-like, an intensely annoying twelve year old with insane speed, much like his brother, was now second in command. She briefly wondered what clothes he would adorn now…maybe he wouldn't go for that haori with the stupid ass-bow-thingy…She smirked.

She was missing out a lot of things…

And then there came Itachi, from what she heard he had taken ANBU commander when he was 18, just months after she had 'taken her espionage mission' She wondered what he would be like…

A chakra flare alerted her, she had company. It wasn't enemy, no; in fact she recognized the chakra signature. It was familiar. Very. And it made her all the more nervous.

'_Speak of him and he shall appear'_

She waited a little more than a minute before she saw the knob turn. She helped herself a sharp intake of air. She needed air, she felt…_so gosh_…and that was the only thing her mind could process as she took in the sight before her.

He had his mask, the same weasel mask she had seen so often on him, attached to his hip. His hair, longer than she could remember, the once almost-gone stress marks on his face, more prominent than ever, his face regal as ever, and his eyes, blood red sharingan that made her heart skip a beat.

He was here.

With her.

Alone.

And he was looking at her with so much intensity, the sharingan doubling the effect.

Silence.

"I…why are you here?" And his sharingan spun dangerously. Did she say something wrong? 'Of course you did the hell of a question that was!'

--

It was the final seal, and he had broken it already, the others already dissipating as soon as he fed his chakra into them. The place had recognized him, she had recognized him. He couldn't locate where exactly she was – the next room however was where he assumed she was, it was just secured – and he couldn't really identify if it was really her, behind the door…but something told him she was.

_She was a door away_. The thought reached him.

His heart started to beat much more rapidly than before…he paused to calm it down. He placed his hands on the knob before turning, it felt so slow.

And as if time stopped, he saw her.

He couldn't help but notice that his sharingan had appeared on its own accord. He paid it no heed as he took her in –

Her hair seemed longer, just a little, her eyes still the sparkling emerald, her lips, her face, everything about her almost seemed ageless, as if time slowed down, but there was something, her expression…it was of contempt, of foreboding…had she not wanted to see him again?

"_I know why, why don't you just tell me the truth. You're waiting for her, aren't you? When was the last time you saw her, four years ago?! As much as I find her favorable, as much as beneficial as her blood is, we cannot afford inconsistency, for all you know she might've settled down somewhere far away"_

He narrowed his eyes at her ring finger, it had been hidden sure enough by her gloves but with his sharingan, even in the dimness of the room, he could make out the traces of a ring.

_A ring._

He realized that yes, maybe he was waiting for her…he wanted to ask, just why had she made him wait for years, just for nothing, why had she made her hopes up?

…_why didn't she wait for him?_

And at that moment he heard her utter, "I…why are you here?" His sharingan was already spinning.

_She did not want to see him._ His demons kept telling him – and unlike so many times before, he couldn't deny that maybe it was true, that maybe he just wanted to succumb to their temptation…he regretted letting her go all those years ago…and now more than ever, he felt himself irrationally drawn to his inner demons.

"Do you not want to see me? Have you avoided me all those years? Tell me… Sakura" His eyes glowed a menacing red.

--

**Author's notes:** Time travel fics and simultaneous (supposed to be) prequel-sequel fics are confusing, but I just couldn't help it…

Oh, Itachi's 21 years old or something. Sakura is still technically 18 but she should be about 22 turning 23.

Sakura is Konoha's informant (much like what Jiraiya used to do, disappearing for unknown lengths of time then suddenly appearing with some kind of information) and Itachi has become Konoha ANBU's commander.

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Introducing the 'what-the-hell-is-happening' corner! (where I explain and sadly spoil a few occurrences in my story's plot for the sake of clarity)

So, like in the time traveler's wife, the time traveler disappears, and as implied, Sakura has no control over this. Basically she instead of time travelling Sakura now disappears between the alter worlds.

For the sake of anti-confusion:

Sakura's first world would be the "canon" world

The second world would be the supposedly alter world.

(Okay, now this is where it gets a little confusing)

As we know from HINTS, Sakura was a **sixteen**-year old turned twelve. This is where the time travel occurs. From the canon world, she travels back, thus turning the past the 'alter" world title. She forgets this though, and since two Sakuras cannot exist, her alter world counterpart was never born. This however destroys the two worlds' balance, thus the uncontrollable back-and-forth.

But, as in HINTS this uncontrollable back-and-forth does not occur until she gets around the fact that she time travelled.

Now, since she has already disrupted the past ("alter" world) the canon world soon then changes.

Sakura in the different worlds have different standings. So the original canon world is a little warped, the past now becomes the canon world (so in short it is the 'canon-now-altered' world, but is referred for simplicity's sake, the sakura's first world). The first world changes each time Sakura appears in, and each time she is just some unnamed ninja. She might meet up with some people she knew, but ultimately they have no memory of her (because technically she didn't exist until then). So, yeah.

{much like in chronicles of the wings where sakura, lee, and the gang travel around basically same universes with basically same people with just different lives}

In this story, (second world) Tsunade and Jiraiya are married (with no children of course!) and they also know about this little secret Sakura has (The Whys will be revealed as the story progresses) however, Itachi does not know of Sakura's tendencies.

Now with the reason as to why she can leave Konoha within long periods of time…

Since Jiraiya, Konoha's informant, has become out of commission or simply retired, Sakura takes his place, reporting to Konoha her findings, and thus the I-can-stay-out-of-Konoha-for-long-periods-of-time excuse.

I also have this impression that summons reside in another dimension/world, and are called upon by their summoners to the respective world their summoners reside in. So, with that theory I believe Sakura can make contact with the other world. She could just employ spies on several organizations/villages and then ask her summons to relay the information (and vice-versa), however it does not mean she can rely on that as often, seeing as she cannot really grasp the happening on the other world, therefore the I-don't-know-what-time-it-is explanation.

I also have this theory that time may pass differently at different worlds…and since time traveling can cause disruptions in time (duh). So basically, it's not just time traveling, maybe a little world jumping?

{sakura left when she was 18, itachi 17. Sakura's greeting came in late because she made a wrong estimation?}

~wheew ^^

Daaa daaa daaa daaan. **Cliffy. I. am. EVIL.**

**Age was edited. go check HINTS as well (next chappie will be up soon) **

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**REVIEW :'} **


	2. Chapter 2

Author's notes: So, when I was checking out mail I found this review that told me "...taking the easy route just may stop the block you're into" and I realized, hey why not? Whoever you are, you're brilliant just so you know. Thank you really, your reviews are wonderful each and every one of them they're like bits and pieces of bacon that brighten my day.

I tried naming the chapter, does anyone like it? Nifty idea right?

I also apologize for the massive amounts of "',".

* * *

Chapter two:

Coming home

* * *

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Sakura closed her eyes briefly, more like a flutter of lashes than anything else but it was enough. There was always this unnerving factor Itachi's eyes gave off and it was a tactic she knew all too well. Her brief stint with her eyelids changed her eyes into equally strong emeralds.

Sakura made no move to dignify the question and just as well he made no further move. She could sense his irate, the tension and everything else. It made her bloody uncomfortable but it was that.

Sliding past him, Sakura grabbed the knob, her hands giving away small trembling. And just like that, she dismissed him.

It wasn't over, they would talk, she was sure of it but it wouldn't be today and if she could help it, not the day after and as long as she could put him off.

.

.

The trip was blindingly short. It was as if, Itachi expected everyone else to fly as he did. Her periphery was all hazy straight lines of greens and browns with the occasional blues and red. The air was tense and like bullets grazing the lobes of her ears.

She could feel the poor men on her flank, itching to whisper to each other. _What had pissed off their commander? Why do we deserve this? Can't we slow down? We can't fly for god's sake!_

She could quell them; challenge Itachi's command like she had so many times before. But it would not end well, not like it had years before, and lost in thought and speed Sakura finds the trip over even before she could sort her self out.

.

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* * *

(Konoha)

Itachi had long gone, the moment his feet touched the village he vanished towards the tower. She could hear the men making noises of annoyance and muttering under their breath.

She makes nothing of it.

More than anything her mind was racing with Naruto, they were siblings in every sense of the word but blood, and more than Itachi, who she knew like the back of her hand, Naruto – Naruto was unpredictable.

She found her feet taking her the long way to hokage tower, just enough time to ensure she and a certain commander would not cross paths.

.

.

Tall wooden doors loomed soon enough.

She wondered what she would find.

.

.

The hokage, Kakashi – _Kakashi! _Not that her slugs hadn't informed her or that he was relatively newly inducted or what so ever. But he was such a relief, like an old friend that remembers exactly _what kind of tea she likes_ or _how warm she wants her bath_, small details that make all the difference.

He was also like that wise old man who knew everything (_and he does_) smiling with the creases in the corner of his eye before dismissing her with a, "There's someone else waiting for you I think?" even before she got a word out, and as she closes the huge doors, she hears "I'm not the one with the longest track record of being late now am I?"

.

.

Amazingly she finds humour in what should have been a painful statement. Kakashi knew exactly what to say so it seems.

.

.

Then cerulean eyes, so blue and bright like the sun, found emerald.

It was hard to stomach as she saw his eyes change into guarded angry storms.

The blonde moved forward, making his way to the hokage's office with his best friend in tow as if she didn't know who she was.

"Na-" Sakura started. The blonde looked almost haunted for a second before steeling back and making a push at her shoulder. They were face to face, the blonde towering over her. Sakura found her voice, her teeth going for her bottom lip. "Naruto..."

The blonde turned on his heels. He wasn't ready for this. This was too much, too fast.

And then he'd stormed away with frost in his eyes.

"You're quite late aren't you?" He said with his back to her, disappearing through the curve of the corridor.

It was wonderful truly, how everything had gotten out of hand and to make matters worse Sasuke, stared at her with those eyes of his so much like his brother's as if his look were to mean something. A silent message of sorts.

Her temper had to flare at inopportune times as well, "I suppose that's bloody suppose to mean something? Well, you know what Uchi-_Sasuke _I don't get what you mean. I've no idea with what's been happening here so bugger off"

"You would have, if you'd-"

"Well, leave me alone."

Sasuke snorted, his eyes flicking to the hokage's office doors before returning back to hers "there's nothing to tell anyways", he proceeded to leave as well, steps mimicking Naruto's.

"Are you shooting a soap out there?" Kakashi's muffled voice came through the doors.  
"No shit Kakashi"  
"I can order you to the dungeon you brat!"  
"I just may deserve that"

Silence followed afterwards.

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[Chapter End]

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A/N: I'm taking a new route with this. I like the idea of taking the easy way out of the black hole I call my plot so it may be warped into something else. It may or may not be related to HINTS anymore. Sooo, I hope the conversations seems dramatic, interesting and real. It's a filler of a chapter. One of my lovely friends told me short chapters are fine 'cause lengthening them seems (quote her), "like adding two pieces of rope with orange tape. It isn't pretty" so sorry for the shortness!

Read and Review! :)


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